SAN FRANCISCO — Gantry, an independent mortgage banking firm based in San Francisco, has secured $373 million in construction financing and $330 million in permanent financing for a six-property medical office building portfolio. The properties in the portfolio are Veterans Affairs (VA) medical clinics located in San Diego, Chula Vista and Redding, Calif.; New Port Richey, Fla.; and Tulsa, Okla. The sixth property is in an undisclosed, confidential location. George Mitsanas and Peter Hillakas of Gantry’s Los Angeles office arranged the construction-to-permanent financing on behalf of the undisclosed borrower through a pension fund. Mitsanas says the borrower was a first-time sponsor with Gantry. “We were engaged prior to the lease award for each of these assignments, and that allowed us to help assess the feasibility of each project and craft a financing structure, which resulted in our clients winning multiple lease awards from the federal government,” says Mitsanas. Gantry will service both the construction and permanent loans. Details of the financing were not disclosed, but Mitsanas says the permanent financing will mature in 22 years. According to local officials where the projects are located, the portfolio will generate several thousands of construction and permanent jobs once the facilities open in …
Loans
MIAMI — Ready Capital has provided a $7.1 million refinancing loan for a 30,000-square-foot retail center in Miami’s Little River submarket. The undisclosed borrower will continue making cosmetic upgrades to the property. The non-recourse, fixed-rate loan features a seven-year term with declining prepayment protection. The loan includes a facility to provide future funding for capital expenditures, tenant leasing costs and interest shortfalls. Further details of the property were not disclosed.
Commercial, Multifamily Loan Originations Climb 7 Percent to Close Out 2019, Says MBA
by Alex Tostado
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Commercial and multifamily loan originations climbed 7 percent year-over-year in fourth-quarter 2019, according to preliminary estimates from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Quarterly Survey of Commercial/Multifamily Mortgage Bankers Originations. The results were released Sunday at the 2020 Commercial Real Estate Finance/Multifamily Housing Convention & Expo in San Diego. The four-day conference began Sunday and will conclude Wednesday. The industrial, office and healthcare sectors experienced increases in dollar volume of loans in the latter part of 2019. Compared to fourth-quarter 2018, the industrial sector grew by 67 percent, the healthcare sector was up 33 percent and office properties ticked up 29 percent. Multifamily property loan originations decreased 4 percent, and hotel property lending fell 25 percent. Among investor types, the dollar volume of loans originated by commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) lenders increased year-over-year by 81 percent, 13 percent for commercial bank portfolio loans and 9 percent for life insurance companies. The dollar volume of government-sponsored enterprises (i.e. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) loans decreased 30 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2018. “Commercial and multifamily borrowing and lending hit a new high during the fourth quarter of 2019, surpassing the previous record from the second quarter of 2007,” …
PARSIPPANY, N.J. — JLL has arranged a $31.1 million bridge loan for the acquisition of 5 Wood Hollow Road, a 330,631-square-foot office building in Parsippany, an eastern suburb of New York City. Prime Finance provided the three-year, floating-rate loan, which has two one-year extension options. The borrower, PAG Investments, will use a portion of the proceeds to fund future capital expenditures and leasing advances. Michael Klein and Andrew Zilenziger of JLL secured the loan.
BOTHELL, WASH. — CBRE Capital Markets’ Debt & Structured Finance group has secured $38 million in financing for Canyon Park East, a business campus in Bothell. CBRE arranged the financing for Kennedy Wilson Fund VI, which purchased the property in December 2019 for $54.6 million. The $38.6 million loan closed on Jan. 30 with financing from an East Coast-based bank. Brad Zampa, Mike Walker and Megan Woodring of CBRE arranged the six-year, non-recourse, floating-rate financing with full-term interest-only payments. The loan will finance a portion of the acquisition and provide funding for future capital expenditures and leasing costs. Tom Pehl and Lou Senini with CBRE Capital Markets in Seattle represented the undisclosed seller in the acquisition deal. Situated on 16.5 acres, Canyon Park East comprises five office, R&D and warehouse buildings offering a total of 269,369 square feet of rentable space. At the time of financing, the property was 83 percent occupied.
PHOENIX — Ready Capital has closed a $17.2 million, non-recourse, hybrid-rate loan that is pari passu, part fixed and part floating rate. The undisclosed sponsor used the financing for the acquisition, renovation, unit buyouts and stabilization of a 146-unit, Class B, fractured condominium property in Phoenix’s Maryvale submarket. The loan features a 60-month term, flexible prepayment and is inclusive of a facility to provide future funding for the capital expenditure and future unit purchases.
SAN DIEGO — The U.S. economy is likely to take a hit this year from the effects of geopolitical uncertainty and a global recession in the manufacturing sector, according to Michael Fratantoni, chief economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). His forecast calls for U.S. GDP growth of 1.2 percent in 2020, down from 2.2 percent in 2019, and for job growth to dip from a monthly average of 175,000 last year to 150,000 this year. The unemployment rate, which currently stands at 3.6 percent and is near a 50-year low, is expected to reach 3.9 percent by year’s end. The wave of tumultuous events on the world stage have come fast and furious, the veteran economist observed. “Just recently you had the situation with the assassination of [Iran’s General Qassem Soleimani] and ballistic missiles being fired across the Middle East. Now we have got the coronavirus. We just concluded an impeachment trial. We have a presidential election. The trade wars of 2018 and 2019 are perhaps simmering down a little bit, but still a concern and still impacting a lot of decisions by private actors out there.” Such conflicts pose a threat to what has been a “remarkable” run …
Mark Fogel, president and CEO of ACRES Capital, believes alternative lenders can maintain their flexibility and creativity where perhaps more traditional lenders cannot. He believes this will be important as the country continues its unprecedented upcycle, with a potential downturn threatening in the next 18 months or so. Finance Insight (FI): As an alternative lender focused on the middle market, can you tell me a little bit more about alternative lenders and your specific areas of expertise in comparison with traditional funding sources? Fogel: Traditional lenders offer an important role in most communities as a source of funding. However, they are restricted by regulations that impede their ability to take on riskier transactions and go higher on the capital stack. In this regard, alternative lenders can step in and provide capital and opportunity for those projects that are going through a redevelopment or are repurposed from their original business plan. FI: Do you lend against all property types and pursue projects in all geographical regions of the U.S.? Fogel: ACRES seeks out opportunities on an asset-by-asset basis. We do not necessarily follow market trends, but rather identify alternative situations where, from a debt perspective, our basis is low and the …
Despite enduring a federal government shutdown for 35 days that temporarily put a crimp in loan processing, the HUD/FHA Section 232 mortgage insurance program used to finance seniors housing properties rallied to post a solid performance in fiscal year 2019. The volume of loans closed during the 12-month period that started Oct. 1, 2018 and ended Sept. 30, 2019 totaled $3.7 billion. That’s up from $3.6 billion the prior fiscal year. The HUD/FHA Section 232 program — more commonly referred to as the HUD Lean program — helps finance nursing homes and assisted living facilities, as well as board and care facilities. The Lean process developed by HUD in 2008 is a methodology based on the Toyota model to increase efficiency by reducing waste. In short, the goal is to eliminate historical inefficiencies in the processing and approval of HUD loan applications. Dissecting the data Although the government shutdown that occurred in late December 2018 and January 2019 resulted in the program’s loan count dropping from 317 to 288 on a year-over-year basis, the average loan amount increased 14 percent during the same period to reach a record high of nearly $13 million. “This was driven not only by some …
HOUSTON — LMI Capital, a Real Estate Capital Alliance (RECA) member, has arranged an $8 million bridge loan for the acquisition of a 150-unit apartment community in the Houston area. The loan was structured with an 80 percent loan-to-value ratio and 2.5 years of interest-only payments. The financing includes proceeds to fund a capital improvement program. Brandon Brown of LMI Capital placed the loan on behalf of the undisclosed borrower. The lender and property name were also not disclosed.